Packaged goods dispenser



M. D. WEBBER PACKAGED GOODS -DI SPENSER Aug. 12/1, 19414.

Filed July 23, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Aug.12,1941; l M. D. 1111515151511.4 2,252,654

PAGKAGED GOODS DISPENSER Filed July 23, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Aug. 12, 1941 PACKAGED,

2,252,654 GooDs DISPENSER Minor'Dl.' Webber, Salem, VVa.,.assigner of gone-1 halfit'o Frank C. Wiley, Jr.,5 Salem, Va. I.

" 2 Claims.

This invention relates to an improvement in packaged goods dispensers.

The object is to aiiord convenience in placing packaged articles in and removing them from a cooling compartment with facility. The equipment with which this invention is designed to be used, is commonly used with modern soda-fountains.

It is generally customary to pile these packaged articles in these cooling compartments more or less indiscriminately, with the result that the attendant has no certain means of knowing just how many packages of a certain commodity there may be in stock, or which package is the one called for by the customer, thus Wasting time in sorting and resorting them in his search for the particular commodity ordered by the customer.

This present invention seeks to obviate this difliculty by providing a plurality of openwork cells adapted to be placed within the cooling compartment, and adapted to receive litters of skeleton formation, which are easily insertable and removable from these cells, each lifter being adapted to receive a full complement of packaged articles of the same description'piled one upon another, with provision for labels identifying these articles on the handle at the upper ends of the lifters.

Generally speaking, this invention consists of a nest of adjacently connected open-work cells and open-work litters adapted to be moved up and down in said cells, the entire unit being intended to be placed in a cooling compartment so that the articles to be -dispensed or vended will be completely exposed on all surfaces to the influence of the temperature maintained in the cooling compartment, each lifter being adapted to hold a full complement of stacked packages of goods corresponding to the label borne by the lifter in which they are stacked.

. In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan View looking down from the top;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section;

, Fig. 4 is a View in perspective of one of the lifters;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a slightly modified form adapted for both Dixie cups and pint dispensers;

Fig. 6 is a view in side elevation of the container.

The openwork cells, of which seven are shown connected together in Figs. 1 and 3, as aconvenient and compact assembly for the usual size of cooling compartment, each consist of horizontally disposed rings I, 2 and 3, and strips or i Application Juiy 25, 1940?, senti vridsmosi j j rods' ll secured to said Vrings approximately equi- Adistantly Aas viewed in Figs. 1 and 3.

The rings are preferably arranged for convenience as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, that is to say six of them are disposed around a central ring, and they are secured rigidly together at their contacting points 5, so that the outer series of rings are attached at three contacting points and the central ring at six contacting points, thus making a rigid framework at the top, bottom and center of the cells.

For convenience, it is proposed to use four strips or rods to each cell, and they with the rings constitute the skeleton framework of the cells.

Cross-strips 6 also' connect the rings together forming the bottom, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

These cross-strips have a double function, one of which is to reinforce and strengthen the containers at the base, and the other function is to form a support or bottom for the removable lifters.

These removable lifters comprise a ring 1 at the bottom, and strips 8 extending from the ring 1 to the upper end to form a handle 9. These strips 8, the handle 9, and the cross-bar I0 secured at diametrically opposite points to the ring l, may be made for convenience and economy in a single piece of material as illustrated in Fig. 4, although this is not essential.

On the handle 9, a label-holder I I is secured and fashioned to removably receive a label I2 identifying the stack of articles contained in the lifter.

In the modication shown in Figs. 5 and 6, a slight change in the design is proposed for convenient storage of DiXie cups in the cylindrical cells I3 at the left of Fig. 5, and for pint dispensers in the rectangular cells I4 at the right of Fig. 5. Otherwise, the general construction of the framework is the same as has been fully described and illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, except that some oi the cells instead of being round would be rectangular in shape, and the lifter shown in Fig. 4 would be used in the Dixie cup form of dispenser shown at the left in Fig. 5, and a lifter of the same general type but rectangular in form tc t the pint dispensers I4 would be employed.

Obviously, the number of cells might be varied and the number of rings and strips constituting each cell might be changed to suit the requirements, and other slight alterations might be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and hence it is not intended that the application should be limited as to size, dimensions, numbers of duplicated parts, etc.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the strips or rods not only hold the rings together at upper, lower and intermediate points, thus constituting a compact and sturdy framework of skeleton form, but they also form guides for the lifter and the articles held by and dispensed therefrom, preventing them from sliding out of place and interfering with the next adjacent cells.

As illustrated, the entire device including the openwork cells and the lifters are made in skeleton form, so that the entire surface of the articles held therein and thereby are exposed to the temperature of the cooling compartment.

I claim:

1. A device of the character described including a plurality of cells open throughout their sides, tops and bottoms, each cell consisting of horizontally disposed rings, uprights connecting these rings together to form sides of thel cells, bridging means to serve as supports in the bottom of the cells, the rings connected together in horizontal groups, and a plurality of lifters consisting of uprights connected together at their upper and lower ends and having open sides, a

ring at the lower end of each lifter, and a c0n.

necting portion at the top forming a handle.

2. A device of the character described including a plurality of cells open throughout their sides, tops and bottoms, each cell consisting of horizontally disposed rings, uprights connecting these rings together, the rings connected together in horizontal groups, cross-strips extending parallel with one another, each extending across at least two of the rings to reinforce and form a bottom for the cells and connecting said 

